Heart Health News

Health Highlights: June 26, 2013

Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Texas Abortion Bill Fails After Filibuster Attempt

A Texas lawmaker spoke for 10 straight hours Tuesday in a failed
filibuster, but her efforts ultimately helped to thwart a
Republican effort to pass a highly restrictive abortion bill in the
state.

Sen. Wendy Davis began her attempt at a 13-hour filibuster late
Tuesday morning. Her goal was to keep speaking past midnight, the
deadline for the Senate to approve the bill and send it to Gov.
Rick Perry to sign into law,
CNNreported.

But Davis' marathon filibuster ended at about 10 p.m. after the
chairman ruled that she had gone off topic. However, a member of
the Senate then moved that the ruling be appealed, putting the
status of the ruling in doubt.

The next few hours featured a confusing mix of procedural
maneuvering. At 3 a.m., Lt. Governor David Dewhurst declared to
bill dead and the special session over,
CNNreported.

"This is an unprecedented situation," said Jeremy Warren, spokesman for Democratic state Sen. Rodney Ellis. "I have been here 18 years and have never seen anything like this. We are still officially still in session because we never adjourned."

Perry may ask for another session to deal with the bill. "The
governor reserves the right to call the legislature back into
special session anytime during the interim," according to a
statement from his office.

"In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Perry said. "We have an obligation to protect unborn children, and to hold those who peddle these abortions to standards that would minimize the death, disease and pain they cause."

Planned Parenthood said the Republican-dominated Senate's
failure to pass the bill was a victory for women.

"This fight showed once again that we are all better off when women and their doctors -- not politicians -- are the ones making medical decisions," said Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, CNNreported. "We made history tonight, but we know this isn't the end of the fight to protect women's access to health care in Texas."

Under the bill, most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy would
be banned and abortion clinics and the doctors who work at them
would face tighter restrictions. The bill would close most abortion
clinics in Texas, critics said.

At the start of her filibuster, Davis said she was speaking for
families whose "personal relationships with their doctor and their
creator" would be violated by the bill,"
CNNreported.

"These voices have been silenced by a governor who made blind partisanship and personal political ambition the official business of our great state," Davis said. "And sadly, he's being abetted by legislative leaders who either share this blind partisanship or simply do not have the strength to oppose it."

She spent much of the 10 hours reading testimony and messages
from women who are opposed to the bill and shared accounts of the
difficulties they, their relatives or friends had to deal with
before birth control and abortion were legalized,
CNNreported.

"Women realize that these bills will not protect their heath," Davis said. "They will only reduce their access to abortion providers and limit their ability to make their own family-planning decisions."

Davis' stand attracted nationwide attention.

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Legal Synthetic Drugs a Growing Problem, UN Warns

The United Nations has issued a warning about the worldwide
growth in the number of legal synthetic chemicals that mimic the
effects of illegal drugs.

For the first time, these synthetic drugs -- with names such as
"Bath Salts," "Spice" and "Meow-Meow" outnumber controlled drugs
such as marijuana, opium and ecstasy, the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime said in its latest World Drug Report,
Bloomberg Newsreported.

The number of these synthetic drugs has risen more than 50
percent and there are now 251 of them, compared with the 234
controlled drugs.

"This is an alarming drug problem," UN agency said in a news release, Bloombergreported. "But the drugs are legal. Given the almost infinite scope to alter the chemical structure of new psychoactive substances, new formulations are outpacing efforts to impose international control."

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Calif. Inmates Must Be Moved Due to Fungus Threat: Judge

Thousands of inmates must be moved out of two California prisons
because they are at high risk of being infected with a potentially
deadly airborne fungus, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson issued the order for
mostly black, Filipino and medically at-risk inmates at Avenal and
Pleasant Valley state prisons. They account for about 3,250 of the
two prisons' 8,100 inmates, the
Associated Pressreported.

The judge made the ruling because these inmates face the
greatest risk from valley fever, a fungal infection that originates
in the soil of the San Joaquin Valley, where the two prisons are
located.

Henderson gave the state 90 days to fully comply. The state is
reviewing the judge's order, Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman told the
AP.

Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.